By Sarah Kurchak

Dir: Chie Hayakawa. Japan/France/Philippines/Qatar, 2022. Stories about societies with an age limit are usually set in a barely recognizable dystopian future. But the only thing that writer/director Chie Hayakawa has invented in her debut future is its eponymous plan. Which makes it the most disturbing—and most troublingly realistic—take on the genre yet.

In an effort to address its aging population, the Japanese government has launched a new initiative: they’re offering every citizen 75 and over free euthanasia. On paper, it’s a perfectly voluntary program and applicants change their mind at any time in the process. But Hayakawa’s film deftly explores the many ways in which the realities of day to day life leave her characters with few alternatives.

Plan 75 tackles its premise from three main perspectives. In one thread, Hiromu (Hayato Isomura) is a polite and friendly salaryman working for the Plan who stumbles on some ugly truths about the inner workings and has a crisis of faith when his own uncle signs up on his 75th birthday. In another, Maria (Stefanie Arianne), a foreign worker with a sick daughter and mounting medical bills, quits her job as a care worker for the elderly because cleaning up their bodies for Plan 75 pays more. And in the heart of the film, Michi (Chieko Baisho) a 78-year-old in good health and previously good spirits, is forced to consider joining when she loses her job and gets evicted from her home.

The film covers an impressive amount of ground, made even remarkable by the fact that Hayakawa never sacrifices story to make a point. Instead, she weaves her storylines and all of the factors that face her characters together with remarkable compassion and clarity. We see all of the obstacles in the way of them living safe and fulfilling lives—including isolation, unemployment, familiar rejection, elder neglect, homelessness, lack of community, and even a passing nod to hostile architecture—but we also see their humanity.

Plan 75 is terrifying because it could easily happen today. (And, arguably, already is happening in some form. Given the current issues surrounding the abuse of medically assisted dying and the lack of support for elderly and disabled people in Canada, it might be even more relevant in the country it's currently screening in than the country it’s about.) It’s devastating because it makes viewers see—and feel—the human cost. 5/5 stars.